television breaks down the results. free at last, american hiker sarah shourdack in her mother's arms this morning released by iran after more than a year in prison, iran still holding her fiance and friend. the families of all three hikers appealing for their release. and hurricane season is heating up. this is hurricane igor right now. but we're also watching two other powerful storms in the atlantic this morning. rob marciano is tracking all of them for us this morning. and the a.m. fix blog blog is up and running. there were some elections last night we were talking about. go to cnn.com/amfix. a big night for the tea party in the last big primary in the 2010 midterm campaign. the best political team on television will be covering all of the big races for you over the course of the morning. shannon travis, jessica yellin, joe johns, along with michael crowley. christine o'donnell, the candidate backed by the tea

party and sarah palin toppled the state's political heavy weight, congressman mike castle. it's a victory o'donnell says is for supporters who challenged the gop mainstream. >> you guys are the visionaries and leaders who made this possible. because you rallied everyday americans outside the political establishment, brought them involved, and created a grass roots network that made all of this possible. the tea party influence is also being felt further north in new hampshire's republican senate primary. there the contest between tea party favored and former state attorney general kelly ayotte is too close to call. and adrian fenty lost his reelection bid to vincent gray, that's for the democratic nomination. it was a closely watched primary and a potential blow to school chiefs across the country

fighting for dramatic education reform. that's because fenty's chancellor of schools ushered in a wave of changes that became a model of reform advocated by the obama administration. and new york's republican gubernatorial primary, another choice, businessman knocked out lazio. paladio said he is ready for a fight. >> work harder and fight harder than we've ever fought before. we're going to rebuild new york. we'll rebuild new york together. you, and you and you, we're all going to work on it. and new york congressman charlie rangel who may have faced his toughest primary challenge in decades because of his ethics troubles was reelected. he faced adam clayton powell iv. last night, rangel who is facing

more than a dozen ethics violation charges told supporters it is time to move forward. >> i can only say that this victory has to be yours. it has to be -- my wife and i were able to stand up to the criticism and the attacks. >> and -- >> one note. charlie rangel was not reelected. that's for november. he was renominated as the democratic nominee for that seat that he has held for 40 years. >> yeah, long time. and if anyone had doubts about sarah palin's clout, they got a wake-up call last night in delaware. >> christine o'donnell captured the republican senate primary with a big push from palin. shannon travis is live in washington this morning. just a huge victory for o'donnell and the tea party. and really, shannon, something

of a mess for republicans. >> absolutely, candy. the ground may still actually be shaking in delaware. i mean, just a few weeks ago, christine o'donnell was far less known than she is right now. and she was badly trailing congressman mike castle in the polls. but in a few short weeks she gained ground, and now she clinched this victory. i definitely credit her own campaigning, but sarah palin and the tea party express. they went in there with palin's backing, sending people out, spending money. she's claiming victory now. >> and shannon, up in new hampshire, we're not really sure who is going to win that one. it's very, very close. any chance we'll get some sort of decision later today? >> yeah. we're not really sure when that decision will actually come out. it's too close to call right now. but there you have a little bit of a different dynamic. you have the favorite of the local tea party groups there

where sarah palin went with the more establishment pick in ayotte. so we'll see what happens there. but you have a little bit of a reverse where typically throughout this cycle, sarah palin has been endorsing the same candidates the tea party movement has endorsed. we'll see what happens there. >> and shannon, here in new york, rick lazio, well-known name here in new york. he lost the republican nomination for governor to a tea party backed carl paladino, was it the money or the tea party backing? >> you know, who would think we would even be talking about this, candy? in new york state, this tea party-backed candidate actually claiming this nomination. as you just said, rick lazio has run for statewide office before. he's got a pretty well known

name in the state. but the tea party movement came in, and there again they backed paladino and he's claiming the nomination. one interesting thing to note is that we've seen during the cycle, the tea party movement going into red states and maybe even swing states, but this marks a sea change in their strategy that they are unafraid. they're making bold moves in blue states, in delaware, in new york, and they're actually coming out on top. so will this happen a lasting impact? will this dramatically affect their strategy? remains to be seen. but it definitely marks a new chapter in their strategy as they try to blaze this path to power. >> as they say, oh, what a night. at least for the tea party. shannon travis. thanks so much. fresh off that victory in the delaware primary, christine o'donnell will be joining us live here at 7:20 eastern. we're going to ask her what's next for her improbable run and how she plans to deal with divided republicans. we're also keeping an eye on the tropics this morning.

three storms intensifying right now. hurricane igor now a monster storm. but another storm brewing in the caribbean may be the more immediate threat this morning. we're going to turn to rob marciano in the extreme weather center. and you've got your hands full this morning. >> they're coming to me right now. >> we're there. >> good morning, guys. yeah, couple of things. three things, actually, as you probably mentioned. two of which are major hurricanes. igor for one, we talked about this. at one point had winds of 150 miles an hour. and now it's 145. this thing's a beast. we know where this is going. and hurricane julia, which yesterday was just a category one and just the day before that was just a little tropical storm. this is now a category four with winds of 130 miles an hour. the track of igor remains the same, bermuda is under the gun, but i think the u.s. is going to be just fine. but what came up yesterday -- and we talked about this briefly

was the possibility of seeing carl develop. and that happened yesterday afternoon. as a tropical storm. but now it's almost a hurricane. winds sustained of 65 miles an hour, approaching the east coast of the yucatan peninsula. we'll go over that and then get into the gulf of mexico. could very well develop into a hurricane before it goes back into northern mexico as we get towards the weekend. so busy, busy time here. and at least right now, no direct impacts on the united states. so very, very lucky on that count. but we'll have direct impacts. we'll talk more about that in the next half hour. >> rob marciano has his hands full today. next, christine o'donnell comes up big in the delaware republican primary. we're going to break down the race and what it all means next. it is eight minutes after the hour. nouncer ] neutrogena® clinical skincare helps restore collagen depleted skin to undo the look of a year's worth of skin aging in just 4 weeks. clinical skincare. neutrogena®.

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would have been talking about delaware so much? i think we might want to get a check from the chamber of commerce. anyway, o'donnell doesn't have the gop to thank. try sarah palin. michael crowley, senior correspondent for "time" magazine. and since kate is on the set with us, she gets to go first. michael, we'll get to you in a second. coming into yesterday, there were folks who were saying -- and perhaps some of us were among them that mike castle's probably going to pull this out. looks like christine o'donnell might have been a flash in the pan. but turns out tea party turnout can be a huge factor and looks like that was the case last night. >> i feel like a broken record. we have to watch about the tea parties, how they're organizing and getting out the vote. but even tea party activists did not think two weeks ago that christine o'donnell could win. i think even they were surprised by this win. but also look at new hampshire.

i think new hampshire's very close and tea party could pull off a win there too. >> mike, let me ask you -- we're talking about the tea party, the republican party, and the democratic party. and it seems to me that that's a facade. the tea party is the republican party. and is this not representative of a huge fight within the gop? >> candy, absolutely. and i think what is so interesting when you look at the bigger picture here is sort of the failure or the impotence of the republican establishment machine. on a lot of levels -- for instance, chairman michael steele has generally been a disappointment to people in the party. the party structure is a little weak. and the party has been unable to choose nominees in several key senate races. i think the democratic senate campaign committee is bragging that the republican senate campaign committee has lost eight times when it supported a nominee in a senate primary and lost eight times. so you're seeing kind of a failure of the republican establishment to be able to kind

of control what the party does, which i think is going to have actually quite interesting implications when we come to the presidential campaign in 2012 in terms of who may end up getting the nomination. it may not be who the party wise men in washington, the lobbyists think is the best candidate. it's really, power is coming up from the people in a way that makes the party leadership nervous. >> jumping off of that point. last night, our jessica yellin asked christine o'donnell, what about some of these rumbles saying we may not go up and support her in delaware with money or ground forces. she may say to that, well, i've got the tea party. >> comments like that already coming out of washington are not going to endear the party. and you can see a kind of civil war within the party. >> kate, let me turn it to you about the issue of money. because, in fact, here's what we now hear from the republican party establishment. hey, as soon as she proves she's viable, we'll put some money in there. had a source tell us last night.

she got elected by the tea party, why don't they throw money at her and we'll see if she can become viable. how deep is this rift? and can she win in delaware? >> i think the numbers probably aren't there in delaware. but we've seen again and again this season, you can't count out the tea party. again, we've seen this turn around over and over. i think money matters. but look at alaska. joe miller, lisa murkowski outspent joe miller 18 to 1 and still lost. i think delaware is just too moderate a state. mike castle has won more than, i guess a dozen times statewide, a moderate candidate. there's no evidence that delaware wants a candidate as conservative as christine o'donnell. >> and while kate was talking there, i thought i want to go take a look at the chris coons for senate website. on the website it says, it's

official, meet our gop opponent christine o'donnell. it's hard to figure out whose website this is. they're looking forward to this race all of a sudden. >> yeah. i think there's a note of glee in that. and there certainly was a real tone of glee in the kind of barrage of press releases the democrats were sending out last night. really kind of triumphant about this. i think there was a feeling that the u.s. senate, control of the senate was on the cusp. democrats were starting for a while felt they were likely to lose the house and starting to think recently, we might lose the senate. with last night results in delaware and possibly new hampshire where you may have an insurgent tea party candidate win. even carl rove now at this point saying republican takeover of the senate have probably slunk dramatically. yes, they're very happy about it. >> and kate, that's likely because there are -- there are republicans who are nervous about this crop of tea party candidates. candy and i were talking about this before going on air this morning. if you look at nevada, that

could have been a republican victory. look at kentucky, not a sure thing. kentucky, not a sure thing for republicans. >> no, kentucky should be a safe republican seat. nevada, look, the only reason harry reid is viable is because of sharon engel. and christine o'donnell is the democrats wanted to run against. so, again, the democrats have had to sort of pick off these races race by race because things are so tight in a wave year. but this was a huge sort of psychological lift for them last night, if nothing else. >> should add a cautionary. be careful what you wish for. we've been surprised all election long. >> conventional wisdom hasn't had a great track record lately. well, michael crowley in washington. thanks for joining us here this morning. >> thank you. >> it was fun. whether you were at home or on the road, you can get the latest political news 24 hours a day on our political ticker. go to cnn.com/ticker. and up next, we're minding your business. consumer reports sticking to its

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okay. welcome back to the most news in the morning. minding your business. chase's bank website is back online after a prolonged outage. the service went down monday night and was offline most of yesterday. the company blames the crash on unspecified technical issues. chase has more than 16 1/2 million online active customers. and soon it's going to be easier to add pictures and video to your tweets. twitter unveiling the new features yesterday. they're part of a major overhaul designed to make twitter more user friendly. the compy is partnering with

more than a dozen media providers including yahoo's flickr and google's youtube to embed playable videos directly on twitter.com. and consumer reports still won't recommend iphone 4 to readers as long as apple refuses to offer cases that solve the device's antenna issue. next on the most news in the morning, she's a democrat running for office in red state oklahoma. but that's not the biggest challenge for britney. she's also the state's first transgender candidate. carol costello with this a.m. original next. throughout the da. so it's nice that clorox disinfecting products help kill the germs that can live on surfaces for up to 48 hours. ♪ feels sweet when i can touch you ♪

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♪ top stories just minutes away. but first, an a.m. original. something you'll only see here on american morning. and one of the most right-wing christian red states in the country, one candidate is putting it to the test. carol costello is live in washington with the story. carol, you and i were talking about this race a couple of days ago and i was looking forward to this story. this a lively one. >> it's a fascinating race. the primaries in oklahoma are a thing of the past. they're on to the general election now and campaigning for it. and as you say in oklahoma city,

it has become one of those races to watch. it pits a conservative republican known for her anti-gay comments against a democrat who happens to be oklahoma's first transgendered candidate. both sides insist they want to talk issues, but that's proving to be impossible. >> i salute the flag of the state of oklahoma -- >> reporter: britney novotny is running for a seat in oklahoma. not only is she a democrat running in a conservative red state, but she's oklahoma's first transgender candidate. >> so when you go up to someone, what kind of reaction do you get from people? >> well, it varies. you know, some people have heard of me already and they're very excited to meet me. >> reporter: are you surprised you've gotten so much national attention? because you've been everywhere, right? you're on "new york times," "huffington post."

>> it's something, i certainly went into this with my eyes open. and i knew the potential for that kind of coverage might be there. i'm surprised how quickly it happened. >> novotny's opponent is sally kern who made national news herself in 2008. >> studies show that no society that has totally embraced homosexuality has lasted more than a few decades. i honestly think it's the biggest threat our nation has, even more so than terrorism. >> reporter: kern's remarks went viral. >> there's some misinformation going on here. and i think i need to call her. i think -- >> do you regret saying it? >> no, i don't regret saying it because it's what i believe. i was giving a talk to republican activists. sharing with them how there are a group of homosexual millionaires who are wanting to change the political climate of the nation. and they were doing it secretly. >> who are these homosexual

millionaires? >> you want me to name some names? >> i do. >> okay. tim gil. >> i think sally kerns has a great career ahead of her in something, just not what she's doing now. >> reporter: that's tim gill, a philanthropist who has doled out thousands of dollars to candidates since 2006. novotny denies he's behind her campaign. and records show she's received no money from gill. 72% of her donors are from oklahoma, the others are from out of state. and sources close to the gill action fund say they've not contributed any money to the novotny campaign. actually, ben patrick johnson is novotny's largest out of state supporter, a los angeles actor. he's donated $1,000 and recently held a fundraiser for novotny. >> it's really sally's own words that motivate me. if there were some kind of an aggregate gay mafia of

millionaires, i'd probably be a part of it. but there is no such. >> father god, we look to you for our protection. >> reporter: at oklahoma city's fairview baptist church -- >> we seek to uplift the name of jesus. >> reporter: one of her strongest supporters is pastor blair. he says johnson and the rest of novotny's out of state donors should stay out of oklahoma politics. he says they have a plan. >> if it has a plan, what have they proved? >> that even if you're in a conservative state, you're not safe. if you take a strong stand on these moral issues, we can knock you out. if we can knock sally kern out of oklahoma, we can knock you out. >> reporter: as for the candidates themselves, both say they prefer to focus on economic issues. at this point, good luck with that. >> so far, brittany novotny has raised $32,294 to sally kern's $30,849. and in case you're wondering, as

of august 9th, kern received only two out of state donations totaling $125. voters will decide what's important. and if out of state donations are important in a race. voters will decide that as they say in november. >> out of state donations -- money from anywhere has been my experience helps candidates. let me ask you something, carol. it's been my experience also that some candidates run to win. and some candidates run to move the conversation. which one is novotny? >> novotny says she's running to win. she wants to talk issues, economic issues. she wished all this other stuff would go away. of course, sally kern sees it a whole different way. we'll see what the voters think in november. but novotny says she's not running to make a point. she's running to win. >> well, she's certainly making a point in oklahoma. how do voters react to her? when you see her sort of talking to folks out there, are folks open to talking to her? it's a very conservative state,

oklahoma. >> we followed her around. she went from door to door. but remember, she only visited democrats. and they seemed to accept her warmly. talked to her, came out, shook her hand. as for how republicans receive her, we didn't really witness any of that. but the republicans i talked to mostly associated with the current campaign are not receiving novotny well. >> okay. >> carol costello, thank you very much. people wonder why we love politics. it is 31 minutes past the hour. and that means time for this morning's top stories. a big night for tea party conservatives in the most watched primary. christine o'donnell who is backed by sarah palin beat congressman mike castle in the republican senate race. and in new york, carl paladino beat former congressman rick laziao for the gubernatorial nomination. revealing the feelings of helplessness that first responders felt as they saw that fire ball last thursday. for hours, firefighters thought

they were dealing with a plane crash and were forced to sit and watch even fall back when they realized they had no water. >> call for a fourth alarm for this. it appears we have a plane down in a neighborhood. multiple structures on fire and we have a fireball still coming out. >> stop that engine. we have no water in the hydrant! we need them to lay into us. >> copy that. >> we think we've got a broken water main down here. so they need to lay in from the corner of san bruno avenue. >> wow. this shows you how chaotic the first moments after a calamity like this can be. the firefighters improvised stretching lines from another water grid, thankfully, but they did lose precious time. officials say four people died in the fire and three are still missing. 37 homes were destroyed. and tony hayward, remember that name? he is -- days of testifying are not done yet.

later today the outgoing ceo of bp will face questions from british lawmakers studying the fallout of the oil spill in the gulf. they are considering whether new regulations are needed in britain to limit deepwater drilling there. >> i can feel the people at bp bracing for the impact of tony hayward talking in public once again. after spending the last 14 months in an iranian prison, sarah shourd is reunited with her family this morning. she was freed on $500,000 bail, she arrived safely back into the arms of her mother. >> iran is still holding her fiance and friend in prison on spy charges after the 2 1/2-hour flight from iran, she thanked everyone involved in her release, including iranian president ahmadinejad. what can you tell us, nic? >> reporter: well, sarah sounded very tired and emotional when she landed.

she gave a very short statement to a handful of waiting journalists. very carefully crafted statement. very much in the lines of what she said before she left tehran. the place it differed most of all after thanking the iranian leadership was to say that her priority now was to get her boyfriend -- to get her fiance and her other friend out of the jail in iran. >> today is the work that my day begins. and all of my efforts starting today are going to go into helping procure the same freedom for my fiance shane bauer and for hi friend josh fattal because i can't enjoy my freedom without them. >> reporter: and right now she's resting here in oman. it's not clear what her next move will be. obviously her family, her mother and uncle were there to greet her. they're going to make sure she's in the best physical and emotional condition before they

move on. she's going to want to see what she can do, perhaps, with the government, perhaps talk to officials here to see what they can do to speed their release. that's obviously her priority. and one would imagine she wouldn't want to leave the region without doing as much as she can in the meantime. candy, jim? >> and nic, any glimmers of hope at this point for the other two men being held? any possible word of when they could perhaps be released? >> reporter: really, the only word that the iranians are giving at the moment is these two are going to stand trial on charges of spying, which all three have adamantly denied from the beginning. and their lawyer has denied on their behalf, as well. so the best signals are that sarah shourd was released. the worst of the signals are that the iranians seem to be putting that to one side and continuing on ahead. the omani government says they are happy with this humanitarian

move. this shows the strength of omani/iranian relationship. omanis are clearly going to stay in this game of doing whatever they can to get the other hikers free. >> nic robertson, joining us live this morning in oman. and coming up at 8:40 eastern. we'll talk with the mothers of the two being held in iran. they will join us live in the 8:00 hour. still to come on the most news in the morning. they say they're the future of the republican party and they're breaking with their leadership. i talked to the so-called young guns next.

♪ i thought it was over here... ♪ [car horn honks] our outback always gets us there... ... sometimes it just takes us a little longer to get back. ♪

they call themselves the future of the republican party. and after november 2nd, they could find their party back in control of congress. >> in a new book called "young guns" a new generation of conservative leaders, they say republicans lost the confidence of the american public when they didn't deliver on what they promised. so i began our conversation

asking who lost actually the confidence of the american people and where they think the party needs to go next. >> what we did, candy, is the three of us got together a couple of years ago and said, you know what, we are tired of what's happened to our party. and you know what? the voters agreed with us back then because they fired us. in '06 and '08. we also said, you know, this country has now gone way off track. and we've got to go in search of new people that can come to the table that want to go to washington for the right reasons. and we all believe as common sense conservatives that the answer is a free enterprise optimistic conservative vision for this country. >> but this is a criticism of your own party. >> but our party lost its way. >> you are your party. >> we have to own up to the fact that the last time we were in the majority, we spent too much money. we did not ink ourselves to our principles. we have to acknowledge that if

we don't want to repeat those mistakes in the future. we're trying to get men and women to come to congress, not to try to build a political career, but to advance a cause and get this country back on track. >> when you talk about the next generation of conservative leaders, you sort of implicitly talk about page turning. much has been made about the fact that not much was said about or to john boehner, the republican leader, who may or may not become the next speaker of the house. would you all tell me right now if the republicans take over majority of the house, would you support john boehner as speaker? >> yes, we all would. >> so this is not a rebellion takeover young guns? >> no. >> you support john boehner at this point? >> we didn't create the name. seeing how can the party come back after being fired? and it can come back by putting ideas out there, using their conservative principles to solve problems. >> let me ask you one further while we're on the subject of leader boehner. and that is that he's made --

he's got a lot of play for saying, yeah, i vote for continuing the middle class tax cuts. it seems to me the argument isn't weather john boehner wants all of the tax cuts to be extended. it's what would he do if he got a bill that was only to extend middle class tax cuts. if you only get that bill, are you telling me that you would or would not vote for that bill? >> let's examine the question first. >> okay. >> the reality is there's a bipartisan majority in the house that supports our position, which says there should be no tax hikes for anyone. no investor, no single mom, no small business person, especially in a recession. that's the reality. so the speaker right now is refusing to allow the voices of the bipartisan majority in congress. and frankly, we know the majority of the american people who say, you know what? tax hikes in a recession are a

non-starter. >> would you tax-cutting republicans set the market free really vote against a bill that kept those tax cuts in place for most americans? >> we are not interested in being party to a bill that raises taxes on job-creating small businesses. here's the point. here's who can answer that question. the speaker of the house can bring a bill to the floor that can extend all of the tax rate cuts and it would pass. >> right now the energy out there as you all well know are people are backed by the tea party, which is actually a lot of different entities at this point. do you easily see a transition from tea party candidates, be they in the house or the senate into the republican caucus on either side? do you see any of these candidates easily doing that? >> if we remember what the tea party stands for, it's taxed enough already. these are people who are so frustrated at washington's ways of run away spending and lack of

accountability, that is our message. people are tired of a government that continues to make promises it can't keep. we're about transparency, straightforward discussion as to how we can address the growth in federal government that needs to be reigned in, how we're going to cut federal spending, and ultimately how we get people back to work. >> if i'm a voter and i'm sitting out there and i'm listening to you, i may be in my head going, yeah, yeah, yeah, we have heard this all before. we're going to work together, we're going to put the best ideas on the table. here are republicans who are advocating tax cuts remain across the board, or the current tax system remain across the board who are also arguing that the deficit is going to kill us. and so you're going to add $3.8 trillion to the deficit because you want your tax cuts. is isn't that orthodoxy over what y'all are advocating. >> domestic spending went up 84% last year. the spending spree has got to

stop. >> i bought a budget to the floor that cut $4.8 trillion out of the budget. there's plenty of waste and there's room to cut in government and spending. if you try to balance this budget and pay off this debt by raising taxes, you will suffocate economic progress and prosperity in this country. spending is the root cause of our problems. we have to deal with the structural spending issues. and if we try to tax ourselves out of this, we will stifle job creation, and we will have a lost decade on our hands. and we can't afford that. >> just for the record, the young guns, 40 and over. so 40 is the new young gun, which i think comes as great news to anybody over 40. >> we will take it. >> exactly. >> and they bring up a good point about republican party politics. and it's no wonder that they're trying to reclaim, you know, what they feel like are their conservative principles. they're making their best stab at it. >> they're kind of walking a fine line here, you know. the republicans made a huge

mistake. we're not your grandfather's republican party. really, because grandfather's republican party would pretty much be ronald reagan who are is an icon in the republican party. >> just not that grandfather. >> we'll see. that's an idea machine there. those three there cranking it out. >> very good. and good to hear from them. well, thanks a lot. and 6:45, rob marciano is tracking three active storms in the atlantic right now. and he'll have the latest on that as well as this morning's travel forecast right after the break. and now we've seen it all, but we keep saying that and still see more. social media for man's best friend. twitter for your dog. that's still ahead.

it is just about 49 minutes past the hour. we want to get a quick check of this morning's weather headlines. rob marciano in the extreme weather center. >> good morning, guys. stay with me here. julia, number one, category four storm. igor, category four storm, as well. and now we've got karl. this one closer to home. this is not yet a hurricane, but almost there with winds of 65 miles an hour. just to update you on igor. this thing has been a beast with forecast track to keep it off the united states. as far as karl is concerned, that is closer to home, much greater concern. it will make landfall across the yucatan peninsula later on today. getting to the gulf of mexico, are you worried? most of our computer models keep it south going to mexico. bad for them because it could be a hurricane at that point. worries there for sure.

by later this morning, we could have three hurricanes going at one time, two of which would be major. and none of which are going to affect the united states directly. that is amazing and certainly lucky. not so lucky across the northern plains. severe weather here. flash flood warnings for parts of kansas. and later on, some of these storms will regenerate themselves. this is the bulls eye where we'll see heavier rain, flooding, gusty winds, and lightning. meanwhile, lovely weather across the northeast. so all these storms brewing. in the highly populated northeast corridor where you guys are hanging out right now. enjoy. >> we will. we will do that. appreciate it. this morning's top stories minutes away, including a full rundown on primary night. we'll talk to the newest tea party superstar. the winner of delaware's primary, christine o'donnell. can she win in november without much of her party's support? and without republican cash? that is one of the big questions. >> it is. but then a cnn exclusive. a look at the problem of child

sex trafficking on the web. other websites are already filling the craigslist void. amber lyon spoke to a mother who found her 12-year-old child online for sale. and this is this amazing moment when lyon is there and the young girl calls home. those stories and more at the top of the hour.

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these days it seems everyone is on twitter. the site has an estimated 18 million registered users. and tweeting has been a popular way to get updates. and now the family dog? larry tuchman shows us in today's edge of discovery report. >> reporter: meet roscoe. thanks to a high-tech, he's learning a new trick, how to tweet. >> when i'm at work, i'm able to hop on twitter and see what my dog is up to. >> reporter: their tags have a motion censor and microphone that can tell when they move. >> from the tag to the antenna and then the software evaluates this data that's coming in and determines an appropriate tweet to send to your dog's twitter page. >> reporter: now you will know when your dog is taking a nap, chasing its tail, or the mailman. >> we spent many days in many

different homes with dogs trying these on, putting these on dogs' collars and having them sit still and run around. we would test very little dogs like chihuahuas on up to big dogs like great danes. and this helped us to tune the microphone to pick up on the broad range of volume, decibel level. >> reporter: it might end up a chew toy. gary tuchman, cnn. >> and i -- i -- >> it's all yours. >> i always thought those doggy tweets were so delicious. >> too early for puns. i don't get it. so you put this thing around -- and i love dogs, please. i love all animals. so you put this thing around your dog's neck and you can tell everything it's doing. and i'm not sure we want to know all the things our dogs are doing. and then it shows up on a -- i don't get it. why do we want to do that? >> bark, ruff, i guess you can get that in 140 characters or

less. but when they bite the mailman's leg, you might want to get that tweeted out. >> i imagine you'll hear it from your mailman. that's all i'm saying, the old fashioned way. >> good way to let the neighbors know if the mailman's going to finish the route. top stories coming your way after the break. calm down. i know that it is not your job. what i'm saying... excuse me? alright, fine. no, you don't have to do it. ok? [ male announcer ] notre dame knows it's better for xerox to control its printing costs. so they can focus on winning on and off the field. [ manager ] are you sure i can't talk -- ok, no, i get it. [ male announcer ] with xerox, you're ready for real business. just look for a business with the superguarantee® shield. you'll get the job done right, or we'll help to make it right. protect yourself with the superguarantee® only at superpages.com®.

a come from nowhere win. tea party leaves its mark on another race. but are the democrats saying thank you? >> we're going to win without them. >> we're breaking down all the key races and watching the ones that are still going on the most politics in the morning.

and it is the most politics in the morning. good morning, it's wednesday, september 15th. the day after primary day, i'm jim acosta, john has the morning off. >> and i'm candy crowley. we will have complete coverage of the primaries in a moment. but first, here are this morning's top stories. freedom for an american hiker jailed in iran for more than a year. sarah shourd having an emotional reunion with her mother and thanking everyone involved in her release. shourd's two hiking companions are still behind bars. craigslist goes to washington after the website responds to immense pressure to crackdown on prostitution. our amber lyon is taking a look at how many run aways are being picked up by pimps. and a triple threat in the tropics. three powerful storms with two systems threatening land. rob marciano is tracking all of them for us this morning.

first up this morning, the tea party hangover up in delaware. seven states and the district of columbia went to the polls, and it's clear today, it is tea time. >> if there's one thing that's clear is that tea party-backed candidates claimed big victories, and we've got the best political team on tv. so let's get right to it. >> first up, delaware, where kr christine o'donnell beat mike castle in the republican primary for vice president biden's old senate seat. a shocking upset by a candidate who was little known until she won the backing of the tea party and sarah palin. >> she challenged the establishment before it was cool to challenge the establishment. and she pioneered a trail for so many women out there. and you know, so, we have to thank her and all the women serving in politics regardless of the party. because it's a man's world.

but there are a lot of women who are holding their own and blazing the trail for people like me. >> that was christine o'donnell there after her victory last night. >> christine o'donnell on sarah palin whose influence is also being felt. is it enough in new hampshire? where the senate candidate palin endorsed, former state attorney general kelly ayotte is running neck and neck with oyide lamotagne. adrian fenty lost to vincent gray. it could have national implications because his school chancellor, michelle rhee ushered in a wave of changes advocated by the obama administration. and some of those reforms were unpopular in the district. >> it'll be interesting to watch this if it spreads across the country. tea party-backed carl

paladino beat rick lazio. and already taking jabs at the man he'll face in november, andrew cuomo. >> he thinks he can trade in his lifetime liberal beliefs, hijack our agenda, and the voters won't notice. sadly, all andrew offers us is status cuomo. >> also in new york, charlie rangel survives what may have been his toughest primary challenge in decades because of his ethics trouble. rangel beat his main opponent adam clayton powell iv. that's the son of the man rangel beat nearly 40 years ago. of all the primary races, it's the tea party triumph in delaware that's resinating. many analysts wondering if the republican party will ever be the same after christine o'donnell, shunned by the republican party hierarchy won

the senate primary anyway with the backing of sarah palin. >> so again, you betcha! there's another woman i've got to thank. thank you, governor palin for your endorsement. she got behind us folks and gave us a boost of encouragement when we needed it. and she was a vote against the politics of personal destruction. >> jessica yellin is live in dover, delaware, this morning. you betcha. we are looking -- i'm looking at the numbers of people who turned out in the republican party primary. by my count, o'donnell won about 28,000 republican votes. and the big question this morning, of course, is how many more can she win? and will it be enough to take delaware? >> reporter: well, candy, as you

know, democrats and actually many leading republicans this morning are saying no, it can't. it is this rare, rare instance where leaders of o'donnell's own party are publicly saying she cannot possibly win a general election. in this state, almost half of the voters are registered democrats. it is a very moderate state where another third are independents. and a sense among the establishment is that christine o'donnell doesn't have the track record and actually has too many skeletons in her closet to win them over. that's why her own party was gunning for her and trying to keep her from winning the primary yesterday. but she said -- look, she's done it without them before and she'll do it without them again. i asked her, candy, i got a chance to talk to her last night. and i asked her point-blank about reports we have that her own party or national party says they won't even fund her campaign here because they don't think she can win. here's what she said in an interview last night. >> we've already been told this

evening that the national republicans, the party organization that often funds campaigns like yours is not going to fund yours. and that many national republicans have said simply you cannot win in november. do you need their money? can you win without it? >> well, good, they don't have a winning track record. but, you know, of course there's a greater good here. and i would love their support. but they're the same so-called experts that said i couldn't win the primary. if we'd just had that throw in the towel mentality every time there was a fight that needed to be fought, our country wouldn't be what it is. it wouldn't be what is worth defending. so you know, there's a lot of visionaries and leaders you've seen here in this room who believe we can win. and if they're too lazy to put in the effort that we need to win, then so be it. we're going to win without them. >> reporter: and candy, in fact, she made a fund raising pitch from the podium last night when

she accepted her remarks. and the tea party express was there and said they're going to raise money from around the country to try to secure her victory. >> when you look at this win for her, was there any other influencing factor other than the tea party? >> reporter: yes, you know -- great question. of course, she is running in a state where it's not common to see a lot of very vicious personal attacks is the phrase they keep using. and there is among delawareans maybe some of the attacks on her backfired. maybe there was a sense this wasn't nice, this wasn't fair. and also, as you pointed out, it is such a tiny pool of people who decided this. i mean -- fewer than go to a college football game as some of my football fans say. so it didn't take a lot to influence that small sector had this been the whole state voting, probably would've had a different outcome. but she did what it took to get her base out and she really delivered. >> our jessica yellin standing

where the action was and will continue to be. just an amazing night. although we have to stop saying the nights are amazing. it seems every time we run up and against and say, oh, this may be an upset. now we should probably start expecting it. except one small problem, the primary season's over. >> we're going to talk to christine o'donnell coming up in a little bit. and one of the questions we'll have to ask her, how does she plan to mend some fences down in delaware? obviously there's some pretty hard feelings. and this is an unprecedented -- down in florida, remember, rick scott, the man who won the republican nomination for governor down there was sort of an upstart, wasn't expected to win, and then sort of ripped it away from the attorney general down there. and, you know, this is just one of those volatile election years where you're going to see folks come out of the wood work and win races. >> and what's interesting is, it has been most volatile on the republican side. >> absolutely. >> and if you look at the democratic side, we've had really very, very few surprises.

and one of them was our arlen specter, and he ran in the democratic primary. so it wasn't completely unexpected. and so, listen, you know, folks are upset. certainly we know inside the republican party polling tells us that more than just republicans are upset. >> yeah. >> and you know what it means is the best of all possible worlds for political reporters which is we don't really know what's going to happen next. >> and i wonder what the biden family is thinking this morning. bo biden could've run for the senate seat and chose not to. and now it looks like chris coons looking like he's going to be competitive in this race come this fall. >> like all politicians. and all people everywhere. hindsight is much better. >> yeah. exactly. children now disappearing into the underworld of sex trafficking on the web. our amber lyon chased down craigslist executives about the problem. and now she's taking a look at

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welcome back to the most news in the morning. an official from craigslist will be on capitol hill today for a hearing on sex trafficking on the web. the site of the adult services section is now gone thanks in part to the pressure of our amber lyon who put them under the microscope and tried to take down those sites. and she found out that many of the women in the ads weren't adults at all and that the problem goes much deeper than just one website. here's amber with this a cnn exclusive. >> where are we headed right now? >> we're going upstairs to her bedroom. she's a normal 12-year-old. hannah montana, the jonas brothers. >> does she sleep in her bed at night? >> just so i can feel basically have that connection. >> reporter: a mother's anguish. her 12-year-old daughter lured away by a pimp on her way home

from school in april. she's then sold for sex on craigslist before the site closed the adult services section. she's also trafficked on another website. backpage.com. >> a friend of mine told me to look on craigslist and it almost blew my mind. i really didn't believe what i saw. she was there with a wig on. she had on a purple nightgown. >> reporter: your 12-year-old daughter? >> yes. >> and one another one was her rear end. she was bent over. >> everybody wants to know when you look at a website and you see a list of prostitutes, how many of them are children? >> nobody knows what the real numbers are. >> reporter: back in june, we asked craigslist to estimate the number of potentially underage trafficking victims in its adult services ad. their answer, "effectively zero." >> that's not true. we have been able to find,

locate, and return home 54 missing kids on craigslist. now, that is a tiny fraction of what the total scope of the problem is. we found 12 kids on back page. >> reporter: the national center for missing and exploited children gave us current missing child posters, all being sold for sex. $52 mi-- 52 missing persons posters behind me. christine, monica, rachel. and says all 52 of these girls are being sex trafficked. erica, ashley, nicole. the vast majority of them being sold on the internet. we've got white girls here, black girls here, hispanic girls, asian girls. the youngest girl on this wall went missing when she was 13 years old. a lot of these have something in common. she may be in the company of an adult male. over here, christina may be in

the company of an adult male. most likely the pimp. they were focusing on the men who try to buy sex online with underage girls. >> we wanted to know what's the scope of this problem in georgia. and to me, the results were staggering. 7,200 men a month buying sex from adolescent girls. it's just took my breath away. >> reporter: there's no legal obligation for websites to report ads that might involve underage prostitution. backpage.com told cnn the site includes links to help users notify the center if they identify potential abuses. and back in 2008, craigslist promised to "work tirelessly in tandem with key non-profits" and agreed to report ads for the national center for missing and exploited children when they seemed to involve adolescents. but in a period of 15 months, craigslist only reported 132

ads. that's 132 out of more than 700,000 adult services ads that it rejected. ads that could've provided vital leads about children being bought and sold. and that 12-year-old girl we told you about at the beginning, by chance she called home just as we were speaking with her mother. >> you should be home. with your family, with your friends, with the people that love you. >> reporter: the first time they'd spoken in the two weeks since the little girl had vanished. police rescued the 12-year-old girl and arrested a 42-year-old man and charged him with human trafficking. one girl rescued out of thousands. >> how you doing? just please step away. >> sure. >> reporter: amber lyon, cnn washington. >> amber joins us now on the phone. amber, i think you're on route to a hearing in washington about craigslist and the child prostitution online. a lot of this attention is because of your reporting about the adult services section of

craigslist. what is today's hearing about? what are you expecting to hear? >> reporter: well, candy, we're really hoping to get answers here. craigs list hasn't told the public it's been shut down the adult services section is permanent and given us information as to what the logic behind their thinking is. so there will be representative from craigslist at the hearing today. before federal officials, and we're hoping to get answers as far as that. in addition to that, we have the ceo for the exploited and missing children. and congress is delving into this problem to see what is behind the online sex trafficking of these kids. candy, jim. >> and amber, let me ask you a little bit about that personal story you talked about in your piece, which was very, very disturbing. basically this 12-year-old girl runs away from home and she somehow ends up in this underworld? this is just tragic. >> reporter: yeah, i know, unfortunately, jim, that's the

story behind a lot of these girls. a lot of them are chronic run aways and the pimps prey on that. a lot of the girls have daddy complexes, they don't have a father figure. they make them feel wanted and then eventually it's a downhill spiral where they start selling them for sex. and it comes out of control for these girls and a world they can't escape from. >> well, amber, part of our job is to shine lights in darn corners, and you have certainly done that with your reporting. and kudos to you and great working and looking forward to hearing what happens on the hill today. i hope somebody lets -- >> reporter: my flight leaves in five minutes. let's cross our fingers i make it. >> take care. thanks. we're turning back to politics in a few moments here. and the tea party's newest star, christine o'donnell, pulled off a stunning upset in delaware. can she win without the gop and gop money, more importantly, in november?

we will ask her live next. it is 19 minutes after the hour. everyone knows a fee is a tax. you raised some taxes during that period, particularly the property tax as well as a lot of fee increases. as you know, there's a big difference between fees and taxes. but...they're the same. it's a tax.

it's a tax. it's a tax. it's a tax. there's a big difference between fees and taxes. fees and taxes are one in the same. if it comes out of my pocket, it's a tax. now he says it isn't true. we didn't raise taxes. what? still doing the same thing, paying out more money. typical politician. definitely. it was another big night for the tea party. christine o'donnell pulled off a stunning upset in the republican senate primary in delaware. >> but many republican party officials saw her primary opponent as their only hope for winning the delaware seat. can she prove them wrong in november? and christine o'donnell, the winner of last night's republican party. thanks for joining us this morning. i appreciate it. >> christine is fine. thank you, jim, thank you, candy.

call me christine. >> i better call you ms. o'donnell. i'll get in trouble. >> let me ask you this. already your opponent in this race down there, chris coons the county executive in new castle has on his website this morni morning -- not a picture of himself when you go to his main page, but a picture of you. and it says it's official, meet our gop opponent christine o'donnell. he looks pretty eager to be running against you, ms. o'donnell, what do you think about that? >> well, i thank him for introducing me to the democratic voters that i have not met. we have a lot of democrats working on my team right now. and our message is resinating with voters up and down the state because even the democrats are frustrated with failed policies coming out of washington, d.c. so i thank him for introducing me to future o'donnell supporters. >> christine, i'll call you christine and you can call me candy. and let me ask you, we've seen some of the headlines this morning -- there's one on politico calling you basically the republicans' nightmare.

i'm curious as to who you have heard from in terms of congratulations or offers of help in the washington party hierarchy. >> well, we haven't heard from anybody in the washington party hierarchy. and that's a shame. i think right now maybe their pride is just hurt a little bit and they're licking their wounds because the so-called experts were discredited this morning. so, you know -- but we're hoping to hear from them soon. we will reach out to them. but i'm confident that if they choose not to get behind this race, we will get the support that we need. and we can win in november. because delaware's a state that's small enough that i can be in every county every week giving the voters an opportunity to get to know me, i can get to know them and i can personally ask them for their vote in november. >> have you heard from any -- what we would call republican big wigs saying, hey, way to go

there? >> michael steele, maybe. >> yes, we have. no -- no, not the official leadership. we've heard from other big wigs, but haven't heard from michael steele, haven't heard from john cornyn. i had my cell phone on me all night. >> who might that be? >> demint, bauchmann, and others. but there are a lot of people rallying behind me. who are frustrated that the republican party has lost its way. what you see in this race and then especially the attitude after our win is that, you know, the so-called leaders have been proven wrong. they got behind a candidate who didn't even support our party principles. supported the liberals nearly 70% of the time some years. and they chose to get behind him because they were taking the easy way out. and now, they underestimated the power of we, the people, and the strength and determination that we have to take back our country. and, you know, their credibility's been shot.

but a lot of other folks who are frustrated with what the republican party are doing have called me up and said, don't you worry about what they're saying. we're going to make sure you get all the money that you need to win this. and anyone who is watching right now christine2010.com. what kind of candidate would i be if i didn't at least ask? >> and in the final days of the campaign, you alluded to this. it did get nasty between you and your opponent. and it got personal. one of the things that was raised in your state is whether or not you're honest and trustworthy. and there's one clip that we want to play for you and get your response to. it's a radio clip from wgmd radio. dan gaffney asked you about a statement you had made, i guess, about your campaign against former senator joe biden now vice president biden in which you said you had won two counties in your state in that race against him. let's listen to that and get

your response. >> when you were speaking at an out of state group recently and you told them that you won two out of three counties in delaware, what did you mean? >> i don't think i ever said i won two out of three counties, but i certainly -- >> well, let's listen to the audio. hold on one second, i have the audio right now. >> of the 2008 against joe biden and i won in two counties. we didn't have the support of our liberal republicans then. >> you know what that probably was, you're on the campaign trail a lot, i meant tied. >> that was pretty clear cut. and then you said you didn't say that. and you had said it. which is it? >> right. well -- well, at that event, my campaign manager actually corrected me. he said won. because the reality is we nearly tied the vice presidential candidate in two out of three counties and won some districts in sussex county. >> should that raise the

question, ms. o'donnell -- >> no, it shouldn't. no, it shouldn't. and you know what the voters told me? no. because at that event, i corrected myself, i went oops, i'm tired. what i meant is we won some. they chose not to play that part of the audio. you know what the voters told me after the party raised these questions? like i said before, delaware's small enough where we have an opportunity to allow them to get to know me and i can get to know them. i was so humbled and encouraged and honored when people told me what we saw coming from your opponent didn't match who we saw on the campaign trail. so they saw right through it. and you can tell by the amazing poll results right now that they weren't falling for it. they didn't believe this negative picture he was trying to paint. and hopefully my democratic opponent will learn the same lesson that my republican opponent learned. that the voters are tired of these politics of personal destruction. they want campaigns about the issues. they want to hear what their candidates want to do to get our country back on track.

>> let me ask you here just because -- >> especially in a state where delaware, it backfires. >> let me ask you here -- you've taken a couple of shots here at congressman castle, saying he was a liberal, voted with the democrats. delaware last time i checked had many more registered democrats. it is a democratic-leaning state. can you give me a major issue on which you consider yourself a moderate? social security, health care, where are you a moderate where you think you could work with democrats? >> well -- well, right now, i think the biggest concern on everybody's mind is how we're going to get jobs to delaware. my approach to that is through the private sector. democrats, independents, and republicans recognize that these big spending policy as in multiple stimulus bills and bailouts coming from washington are not working. we have to stop the government spending and start approaching our economic problems from a private sector job.

the common sense men and women in delaware know that what's coming from washington is not sustainable. and it doesn't matter if you're a republican. it doesn't matter if you're a democrat. and as we go up and down the state and present my proposals, how we're going to take care of the veterans. i believe that treatment of and treatment for should be a number one of our veterans should be a number one priority for congress. and as we meet people across party lines, we're gaining support, bipartisan support. and i'd also like to point out that in a state like delaware, we have almost as many independents as we do republicans. and those independents are strongly behind me, 2 to 1 lead behind me in some polls. so i'm very confident that with or without the party support we can win in the general election. yes, it'll be hard work. before we were up two points. >> well, christine, ms. o'donnell, we have to leave it there. thanks for sharing time with us this morning. we hope you'll come back.

there have been some other candidates from the tea party movement as they won these primaries. they haven't done a lot of interviews after the the primary. we hope that's not the case with you, ms. o'donnell. >> no, absolutely not. i thank you for the opportunity to get to know your viewers, as well. >> appreciate it. thanks so much. our top stories are next. it is, let's see, 7:30. 30 minutes past your hour wherever you are. tim kaine gearing up to make what's being called a "major announcement" for the party. the speech is scheduled for this afternoon. and a source with knowledge of the event tells cnn the announcement will excite democrats across the country. you may have recognized him from mtv's "real world boston" but now a nominee for wisconsin's seventh congressional district. sarah palin backs the former reality star. he now faces the november elections. and health call alert. an advisory panel ruled certain

over the counter cough medicines like nyquil and roeb robitussin should remain available without a prescription. american hiker sarah shourd is making her way home freed on $500,000 bail and reunited with her mother in oman. iran is holding shourd's fiance and another hiker on charges. and nic, it was -- it was really up in the air, it seemed for those 48 hours before her release as to whether or not she was actually going to be released. and then she came out and had little to say. how is she doing this morning? >> reporter: well, she seems to be resting today. certainly that's what we're hearing from the family members

of her fiance and friend are in jail. they've indicated her family would like -- it was an emotional reunion last night late into the evening, hugging her and kissing her mother and her uncle. and very clearly it seems they too want her to get some rest. they want to see how she's doing, what's her psychological state, what's her emotional state. she gave a brief statement when she got off the plane, carefully crafted. thanking the omani saltan. thanking everyone that helped her. but she said her priority now that she's released is get the release of her fiance and friend that are still in that jail. >> today is the work that my day begins and all of my efforts starting today are going to go into helping procure the freedom for my fiance shane bauer and for my friend josh fattal because i can't enjoy my freedom without them.

>> reporter: so not clear when she's going to head back to the united states. but one would imagine from her statement there that if there's anything she can do while she's still in the region, talk to omani officials, whomever, it seems she's going to have that at the top of her priority list before she gets on a plane to go back home. >> and nic, her comments to the press have been pretty limited since her release. i suppose that's for a reason. i guess she doesn't want to jeopardize what's happening to her fiance and her friend. >> reporter: 100%. her statement in tehran almost identical to the statement she gave here when she landed that perhaps slight difference she puts an emphasis here on winning the freedom of her fiance. in tehran she put emphasis on saying she wasn't going to change her story, wasn't going to change what she was saying when she left iran. a clear indication that whatever influence she's come across inside that jail over 14 months, whatever she's been told about how perhaps good iran is, how much help she's had from the

iranian leadership, she's not going to come out and bad mouth that leadership when they're the ones responsible for holding her friend and fiance. >> nic robertson in oman, thank you, nic. seven weeks until midterm elections, and if it was not clear before, it is clear now, the tea party is a big player. ahead, we'll talk about the tea party's triumphant night last night and discuss who benefits most. ollen that used to make me sneeze... my eyes water. but now zyrtec®, the fastest 24-hour allergy relief, comes in a liquid gel. zyrtec® liquid gels work fast, so i can love the air®.

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welcome back. let's just say that last night the last big night of the primary season did not go the way establishment republicans wanted it to go. christine o'donnell is a tea party rock star now. she'd been basically shunned by

the gop, but she won the party's senate primary without their help last night thanks to a big assist from sarah palin. a lot of people that delaware race means the senate will not go democratic. rather republican. could the house go republican? here to break it down for us, chris van holland, chairman of the democratic congressional campaign committee, and mike pence. thank you both for being here. >> thank you. >> i know we're not talking about your side of the hill, as we say, but i have to get your impressions on what last night meant. first, let's talk about what it meant for democrats. congressman van holland. what does the win -- is it clearly a big night for the tea party. what's the message for democrats in those victories? >> well, candy, we saw similar patterns in the house races that we saw in the delaware senate race and the new york governor's race. and i have to say, i think voters are going to look at t s

this -- and it's going to be a wake-up call. what we just saw was the complete purging of moderates and independents out of the republican party. mike castle is somebody who has been a voice of moderation, a pragmatist, somebody willing to work across party lines. and what happened in delaware just sends a message that there is no room, no room at all for that kind of moderation and independence in the republican party. and i think that's going to be a wake-up call to voters in these swing districts. because swing district voters -- they're mod verate voters. and they're going to see a huge swing to the right and say we don't want to go way over there. >> congressman pence, you are one of those listed in a tea party press release today of those that were backed by the tea party. so i know that you have friendly and good relationships with those who identify themselves as tea partiers. but you know in politics, perception is everything, and i

assume you'll argue these are not right wing extremists who have been nominated. but perception is a lot in politics. and don't you all at this point have a perception problem with some of your candidates? >> well, look -- candy, there's a party that has a problem out there today. and frankly, it's -- it's the democratic party on capitol hill. and it's this administration. the american people are tired of the borrowing and the spending and the bailouts and the takeovers. and they're looking for men and women all over the country that are willing to come to washington, d.c. and reign in this federal government. you know, christine o'donnell ran a competitive primary, won yesterday. and you know, i have every confidence that upbeat positive mainstream conservative message you saw her delivering this morning here on cnn that she delivered all over delaware is going to continue to resinate. and, you know, for those that are willing to write off this race now.

i think electing christine o'donnell in delaware or a republican senator in delaware, it's about as crazy as electing a republican senator in massachusetts. who'd thunk it? the american people want change. they don't want more of the same run away federal spending that frankly characterizes the last administration has gone on steroids in this administration. and they want people that are willing to come to washington, d.c. and bring that change about. >> let me just ask you, though. and a lot of republicans have said, look, these are not, you know, some sort of extremists. these are mainstream republicans. mainstream america. is it mainstream to want to overturn health care reform which is one of o'donnell's positions? is that a mainstream position to you? >> oh, candy, i'll tell you what. come on out to indiana real soon and walk up and down the streets of muncie and ask people whether they agree with me that we need to repeal obamacare, lock, stock, and barrel. people don't like being told

they have to buy health insurance whether or not they want it. i think there's a desis majority of independents and democrats who want to scrap that bill and start over. you bet. i think that's a mainstream position. the american people are saying enough is enough to the spending, the deficits, the bailouts. i think christine o'donnell's message was emblematic of that. >> let me get congressman van holland in here. i think it is true that if you look broadly at some of the polls, there is a lot of unrest among americans who do worry we're spending too much and haven't got a lot of bang for our buck when it comes to bringing down unemployment. is it possible for all the democrats' glee at some of the opponents they're drawing that you are underestimating this move, what seems to be real movement, not just tea party, but the conservative movement across the country. could you be underestimating

that? >> well, what we've got, candy, is the fact the economy is not back where we want it to be. we're a lot better off than we were 20 months ago, but we're not where we want it. people are looking at that situation and venting their frustration in many places. but the question they're going to face is what's the best way forward? and with these tea party candidates, you've got a group of people who take the position that we should return to a period of time like the previous eight years where big money, special interests called all the shots in this country. at the expense of taxpayers, workers. look, let's take wall street reform for an example. right there, we tried to learn the lessons of the past to make sure the american taxpayer's never put on the hook again to pay for bad decisions of wall street. now you've got the republican candidates out there who say, hey, let's get rid of wall street reform. let's do the work that the big lobbyists were not able to do and go back to the status quo where wall street firms made bad

decisions and held the rest of the economy hostage. there's no role for the government to help regulate some of the big money special interest that had benefitted greatly from the bush administration policies. i think is something that the american people are not going to go for. and what we saw last night was just one more example of this energy that the republican party had hoped to harness, but which has turned out to be a run away horse. >> congressman van holland. >> they don't know what to do with it. and i think the voters are going to send a signal, they're okay with moderation and debate, but man, they don't want to go way over the cliff. >> as always, i have many more questions and no more time. thank you very much for joining us. i appreciate it. >> thank you, candy. >> it is 44 minutes after the hour.

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welcome back. it is 55 minutes after the hour. some other stories we're following this morning. secretary of state hillary clinton says israeli and palestinian leaders are getting down to business tackling core issues of the middle east peace issues. they're in israel where they're holding another round of face to face negotiations. the couple infamous for crashing a white house state dinner last year may be dealing with something far more serious. according to a new book michaele

salahi suffered if multiple zle ro sis for years. it will be easier to add pictures to your tweets part of an overhaul to make twitter more user friendly and partnering with more than a dozen media providers including flicker and youtube to let users add pictures and playable videos on twitter.com. three people still missing this morning in san bruno, california, where an inferno leveled a neighborhood and killed four people last week. there were feelings of helplessness and horror. firefighters thought it was a plane crash and forced to sit and watch and fall back realizing they had no water. coming up next hour, we'll speak to steven flynn, author of "edge of disaster, rebuilding a resilient nation." are there more ticking time

bombs under our homes? >> he has a lot to say about the nation's infrastructure and we'll have that coming up and top stories coming in two minutes. stake with us.

good morning. i'm candy crowley. welcome to "american morning." it is wednesday, september 15th. >> i'm jim acosta. we're still talking about politics. lots the talk about this morning. the race in delaware, one of the primaries that are over but the results are in and the tea party has successfully taken on the gop machine in several races. we have the best political team on television standing by to break down the winners and losers. american hiker sarah shourd enjoying the first taste of freedom in more than a year. her fiancee and friend are still jailed. shourd says her mission now is working for their release. the inferno san bruno bringing a hidden danger to the

surface. we'll talk about whether the pipelines are too old to be trusted. a.m. fix blog is up and running. we'll be reading some of your comments throughout the morning. but first, a big night for the tea party in the last big primary of the 2010 midterm campaign and the closely-watching republican senate race in delaware, christine o'donnell, the candidate backed by the tea party and sarah palin toppled the state's heavyweight representative mike castle. a victory o'donnell says the supporters that challenged the gop mainstream. >> you guys are the visionaries and leaders who made this possible. because you rallied every day americans outside of the political establishment, brought them in involved and created a grass roots network that made all of us this possible. >> the tea party influence also felt further north in new hampshire's republican senate

primary where the contest between tea party favorite and former state attorney general is still too close to call. >> and the nation's capital fenty lost the reelection bid to gray. it was a grossly-watched democratic primary and a blow to school chiefs across the country fighting for dramatic education reform because fenty's chancellor of schools ushered in a wave of changes that was a model of reform and also model of controversy in washington. >> in new york's republican gub that toirl primary, another tea party choice. paladino knocked out lazio. paladino faces andrew cuomo. >> of all the races, it is the victory of the pea taert in dell care. >> o'donnell shunned basically winning the party's senate primary without them thanks in large part to the support of

sarah palin a. victory in november seems unlikely. she says she is up for it. >> there are a lot of people who are rallying behind me who are frustrated that the republican party lost its way. what you see in this race and then especially the attitude after the win is that, you know, the so-called leaders have been proven wrong. they got behind a candidate who didn't even support our party principles. supported the liberals nearly 70% of the time some years. and they chose to get behind him taking the easy way out and now they underestimated the power of we the people and the strength and the determination that we have to take back our country. and, you know, their credibility's been shot. >> jessica yellin is live in dover, delaware for us this morning. good morning, jessica. i guess christine o'donnell as you know from listening to her last night, talking to her and

listening to her this morning, she is not backing down and shrinking at all from what she views as sort of a hostile attack from the republican party and sticking to her guns no matter what. >> reporter: absolutely, jim. she is, in fact, invigorated by it. it was the crux of the message in this campaign that establishment, old line, inside politicians are trying to cut deals and cut the people out. and that she represents regular folk who need to change the way and break down the back room deals and break down the doors. so, almost the attacks on her further the theme in the campaign. it really was a stunning political upset. we say that often but this truly was. not only were the leaders of the party gunning for her and actively campaigning against her, but she had significantly less money, very far behind in the polls and now she's got a much tougher challenge ahead of her because as we have reported the national republican parties

are saying thilg're not going to finance her campaign the way they might another republican campaign in other states. so where will she get the money? this is an overwhelmingly democratic state. democrats are dancing a jig this morning but you sort of wonder if their overconfidence could be dangerous and think they they have this one locked up an enthe tea party express says they will be here through this until november raising money to help get the candidate elected, jim. >> jessica, sort of the big picture. obviously, republican -- no party committee, republican or democrat, is going to pour a lot of money into a state where they think the candidate's going the lose. on the other hand, and looks like, you know, if you were a betting person to bet the o'donnell would lose in delaware. on the other hand, now do they risk looking like spoil sports? do they look as though they're kind of the fuddy duddies saying our person didn't work and fuel the people that want her in

there? >> reporter: absolutely. i mean, you have got to assume that there will be big pow wow meeting at some point and sit down and say do we have to put money into the race in delaware? bottom line is if you count the numbers and do the math, republicans cannot get a majority in the senate if they don't win this state so, "a" for public relations reasons maybe that he need to support her some way publicly. "b," just because sta teenlgic amly they want to try for a bin,they have to. there's the gender issue. she is alleging that the boys are out to get the women out of politics. sarah palin's hinted a the that, too. so for a whole host of reasons, the national republicans might consider changing their tone and coming but, hey, anything is possible this political season. maybe not. >> hey, who needs michael steele? she might feel getting sarah palin to come and campaign for

her between now and november. you know? she recorded an robo call for christine o'donnell. who's to say that's out of the question? >> reporter: yes. right. and let me add, my producer confirmed with the campaign sarah palin called to congratulate here, christine o'donnell. didn't connect with christine o'donnell but palin is deeply invested in this one and fully on board. >> you betcha. that's right. >> you betcha. >> exactly. i think she had the pink down last night, too, if i wasn't mistaken. >> reporter: did she wink? i was looking for it. >> i thought i saw it. maybe not. had the line down. jessica yellin live from dover, delaware this morning, thanks. appreciate it. tim cain gearing up for a major announcement for the party. a source with knowledge of the event tells cnn the announcement will excite democrats as they put it across the country.

>> i was going to say, we'll see about that. you don't say that nobody can care. >> sources tell us it will be exciting. >> that's right. it will happen "the turnaround" same time rnc chairman michael steele kicks off a bus tour and says he'll visit 117 cities called "fire pelosi" and part of the effort to retake the house. a royal screw-up is how mayor bloomberg described primary day in new york city. they rolled out the electronic voting machine and many reportedly missing or broken or workers not properly trained. some polling places opened up four hours late. thousands of voters may have been denied the chance to cast ballots and the machines by the way cost the city, drum roll please, $160 million tax dollars at work there. whether you're at home or on the road, get latest political news of the day. go to cnn.com/ticker. american hiker sarah shourd

may soon be returning home for but now saving the freedom after 14 months in a prison. following an emotional reunion with her family in oman, she made it clear the priority is working for the release of the two jailed americans she had to leave behind. >> today is the work that my day begins. and all of my efforts starting today are going to go into helping procure the same freedom for my fiancee shane bauer and my friend josh fattal because i can't enjoy my freedom without them. >> later this hour, we'll talk with the mothers of those two hikers. they'll join us at 8:40 eastern time. coming up next, an aging gas line may be to blame for that devastating inferno in california. how dangerous is the nation's pipeline system? we'll ask that coming up next. nine minutes after the hour. [ ] dear corolla... i know, change is hard.

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welcome back. newly-released radio transmissions giving us a look at the confusion and frustration as first responders approached the inferno last week in san bruno, california. listen to this. >> fall for fourth alarm for this. looks -- it appears we have a

plane down in the neighborhood. multiple structures on fire and we have a fireball still coming out. >> stop that engine! we have no water in this hydrant. we need them to lay into us. >> cop that. engine 38 go ahead. >> we think we have a broken water main down here so they need to lay in from the corner of san bruno avenue. >> it wasn't a plane, of course. the gas line pipe explosion so powerful it broke a water main, destroyed close to 40 homes and killed four people. the fire has people wondering is there a pipeline near me or beneath me? steven flynn joins us, a fellow at the council of foreign relations specializing in critical infrastructure and project and author of "resilient nation." thank you for joining us. >> i'm the president of center of national policy. >> thank you for clearing that up. very good. let me ask you this, steven. because i think when folks are

watching those pick hotures, probably wondering do i need to be worried about this? should they? >> they should be a bit anxious but not overwrougt. the fact is we have about 2 million miles of transmission and distribution pipe around our country. that's enough to wrap around the world about 100 times. >> wow. >> but 60% of that infrastructure is over 40 years old. a car when it's new, you don't have to maintain it so much but older you have to keep a close eye on it. tinker with it from time to time to keep it working. we have also where in the some of the pipe put down communities have grown in and around it. >> steven, i feel like we have seen this movie before coming to this nation's infrastructure and yet another example of it. this particular pipeline put down in 1956. it was over 50 years old, right around the life expectancy for

these steel pipes. are we seeing a similar situation like that all over the country? do we have a network of pipelines that are that snoeld. >> the big issue is we have grand kids that inherited a mansion from our grandparents and decide not to do the upkeep. people think it's a nice house but the plumbing on the heck, the wiring's not very good and in this case the piping's bad. you have to invest in inf infrastructure. so, yeah, there are some issues. you know, the way in which most of this pipe infrastructure is managed is at a local or state level by public utilities who even when they need more money to upgrade the system, have a very difficult time often getting the rates -- upgrades and charging more for the service. >> steve -- >> it's invisible infrastructure. >> strikes me as odd or, you know, sort of -- you know, i guess what i don't understand is

who's keeping a eye on all of this? you say the utilities supposed to be keeping an eye on this and said they're supposed to be paying for it but the rates going up all the time for the public utilities. you would think they would have the money for it. are individual states, communities keeping an eye on this to make sure that the point lines are safe? >> oversight is a real challenge and as stuff ages, you no ed to maintain it and inspect it more frequently and not happening all the time. at the federal level, it's a very limited overnight role. there's about 100 inspectors that work in the department of transportation by the agency with overnight for this. again, that's enough to cover each one pipe to circumnavigate the world a piece. that's not going to work. we're relying on the utilities for inspections and sunrises. there's backlogs of deferred maintenance. the training of inspectors is not where it should be. the oversight is often relies again at a fairly small number of people looking at.

this is a broad challenge as a society. it was our grandparents and great grandparents in many cases that invested in the infrastructure of today and we are not maintaining it. >> the word infrasfruk which you are has come up in the political debate the last couple of years. t the president called for big investments. are we putting enough money into this? i'm thinking about the unemployed that could be put back to work putting in new gas pipelines across the country. is there a way to put two and two together? >> absolutely. it's an investment. it's what our fore bearers invested in to be the most prosperous competitive nation in the world. it was sweat and ingenuity that made it so. we can do it again. the president essentially asked for a very small down payment on that. i mean, $50 billion sounds like a good chunk of change but the american society of civil

engineers looking at the infrastructure across the board said the tab is closer to $2 trillion and that was without having the oil gas lines in the mix. >> what democrats are proposing isn't even nearly what's needed to repair all the infrastructure all over the country and you have the bridge in minnesota. we have these sorts of eruptions that occur in new york city's underground infrastructure pipelines and so forth blowing up. and i guess, when's it going to take? we keep having these disaster after disaster. that doesn't necessarily get the job done. >> one issue that i actually came to this at is as a security expert i started the look at the infrastructure from the perspective of target is it v vulnerable to that. just falling apart in itself. what we need is a president eisenhower. >> proech. it is good for the national

security. good for the environment and economy and stop as a nation putting band aids on the problem we know as a society we must make an investment. i just came in -- i was from singapore just yesterday and a place making a huge investment as with much of asia and infrastructure and allows them to compete. if we want to compete in the world, we have to attend to the foundation that is are critical to our modern way of life and obviously the safety and wellbeing of our citizens. >> steven flynn, we heard that message time and again, getting the tails kicked in asia coming to infrastructure and can't seem to get things moving on this side of the equation. but thanks so much for joining us this morning. steven flynn, author of "edge of disaster." thanks for that perspective on that terrible explosion out in california. got everybody's attention and thanks for helping us bring some interesting analysis to it. thanks a lot this morning. >> thanks, jim. >> good talking to you. candy? >> that was scary. next on the most news in the morning, they're trapped

thousands of feet underground but one of the miners in chile has reason to celebrate this morning. "american morning" continues after this. we could've gone a more traditional route... ... but it wouldn't have been nearly as memorable. ♪

welcome back to the most news in the morning. tony hayward's not done testifying yet. later today the outgoing ceo of bp answers more questions. they're considering whether new regulations are needed in britain to limit deepwater drilling there. pope benedict xvi is set to visit britain. most brits according to a poll don't care about that. 63% said they were neither in favor nor against it. critics slammed the vatican for the cost of the trip to the british taxpayers around 6 million pounds. a wife of a trapped miner given fwoirt a little baby girl. she was going to name her carolina but the husband requested she name her spanish for hope.

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welcome back to the most fashion in the morning. time for minding your business and this morning we are taking you to a place where the selling never stops. we are not talking about right here. >> we are talking about jewelry to makeup to clothes. qvc, yes, qvc, the place where even the high-end designers know the perfect pitch means big bucks.

>> there is a reason we're doing this. it is new york fashion week. >> is it? >> there's fashion off the runways as we like to say, right, guys. qvc, you know, it's not the qvc of 20 years ago, guys. when you think of qvc maybe you think about arts and crafts, maybe you think about old ladies at night buying quilts. not anymore. it's a destination for designers. it's not your grandmother's qvc anymore. it was a little shaky in the early days. >> everybody want this ladder. i live in an apartment with faulted feelings. >> reporter: that was then. >> they're not in kansas anymore. they've arrived. >> last-minute gift. >> reporter: this is now. founded in 1986, qvc, the 24-hour tv network for at-home shoppers is now a $8 billion business. here's the real news. among the big-name designer set, qvc is suddenly cool.

>> it's mesmerizing but on top of that now it really looks great. >> reporter: qvc is so selective it's reported thousands apply for just a few spots. like diane yvonne firstenberg. they're on madison avenue and qvc selling faux fur amounting to tens of millions in sales and it is not just designers. >> you have to feel how stretchy this is. >> reporter: even the kardashian sisters are getting into the game. but in order to stay, you have to sell. >> pressure's on. when you're on, it is like sell, sell, sell. >> you have to sell. we try to give as much information as we know about the products and why we love them, why we krcreated it. the fit and the cut and helps to see it on us. >> reporter: it is all part of the game. >> they psych into the consumers in a way that nobody does. they know, they know. they know how to move goods.

it's a fascinating thing to watch. >> reporter: show hosts caress handbags and what about candles? how do you sell products you can't smell? >> care mel, nutmega. >> reporter: there are two tricks to selling. >> they'll tell me when i'm saying something to go back and say it because the customer reacts to. >> reporter: then there's the interaction of designer that is customers don't get in a store. like a product? don't like it? call in. >> are you getting the "today special value"? >> oh, yes. >> reporter: they get to talk to you on the phone. >> that's my favorite part. >> reporter: and that connection breeds loyalty. 95% of qvc's revenue comes from repeat customers. >> our numbers tell us that if you make two or three purchase on qvc you will be a customer for life. >> reporter: new designer carlie shoriel's family is in the luxury jewelry business but she wanted to go affordable selling handbags on qvc. her task on this night?

sell 800 in 15 minutes. >> fewer than 200 bags remaining. the plum is completely sold out. >> you hear this color is not available anymore. you're like, yes! somebody likes what i'm doing. >> carlie sold out of three colors. not bad for a debut, right, guys? 800 bags in 15 minutes sounds crazy but it is real. how much can you sell how fast? that's why it is not just about a great product but the penalty behind the product to be great, too. qvc's ceo said that combination is hard to fine. when you do find it, it can be magic or mesmerizing. but, you know, haven't you gotten caught late at night flipping the channels. you are like -- >> okay, not once. can i just say -- i'll do it. now i'll look. >> okay. it is worth it. they had a pop-up store in

fashion week. we were there. i have to tell you, the merchandise looks really good. >> yeah. >> and, you know, like i said, it is not your grandmother's qvc anymore. >> high-end retail selling an endoing gang busters. >> absolutely right. designers have to have several layers of distribution to survive. we are in a tough economy. >> learned this week all kinds of places to shop. thank you. >> valuable information. >> i'm sure you'll thank me later. 31 minutes past the hour. time for this morning's top stories. a triumphant night for the upstart tea party, christine o'donnell staged an upset in delaware. another tea party candidate, businessman carl palidino prevailed over rick lazio for new york governor. first responders and survivors of the 9/11 terrorist attacks head to washington today asking congress to pass a bill that will give them free health

care. measure failed in the house in july. two new york democrats plan to raise the issue again for another vote. and running back reggie bush is returning the heisman trophy he won in 2005. the naa says he received illegal benefits playing college ball for usc. bush says winning the heisman is one of the greatest honors of his life and a dream come true. he tweets, now that this is behind me, i look forward to the future and winning more awards and championships here in new orleans. and in one of the most conservative states in the country, one candidate is really putting conventional beliefs to the test this election season and up against one of the most outspoken critics of gays and lesbians in the country. carol costello is live in washington with the story. good morning. >> good morning, jim. in oklahoma city, a race to watch. it pits a conservative republican known for her anti-gay comments against a democrat who happens to be

oklahoma's first trance gendered candidate. both sides insist they want to talk issues but that's proving to be impossible. >> i salute the flag of the state of oklahoma. >> reporter: britney is running for a seat in the oklahoma state legislature. her candidacy is a long shot. not only a democrat running in a conservative red state, but she's oklahoma's first transgender candidate. so when you go up to someone, what kind of reaction do you get from people? >> well, it varies. you know? some people have heard of me already and excited to meet me. >> good luck to you. >> reporter: are you surprised you've gotten so much attention? you've been everywhere, right? "the new york times." huffington post. >> you know, it's something i certainly went into this with my eyes open and i knew that the potential for that kind of coverage might be there. i'm surprised how quickly it happened. >> how are you doing today?

>> reporter: republican incumbent salary kern is her opponent making national news herself in 2008. >> studies show that no society that has totally embraced homosexuality has lasted more than a few decades. i honestly think it's a biggest threat, our nation, more than terrorism. >> reporter: the remarks went vishl. >> there's some misinformation going on here and i think i need to call her. i think -- >> do you regret saying it? >> no. i don't regret saying it because it's what i believe. i was giving a talk to republican activists, sharing with them how there are a group of homosexual millionaires wanting to change the political climate of the nation and they were doing it secretly. >> reporter: who are these homosexual millionaires -- >> you want me to name some names? >> reporter: i do. >> okay. tim gill. >> i think sally kerns has a

great career in something just not what she's doing. >> reporter: that's tim gill, a gay philanthropist that dolled out thousands of dollars to gay candidates in oklahoma since 2006. kern suspects he is behind the candidacy. novotny denies that. 72% of her donors are from oklahoma. the others are from out of state. and sources close to the gill action fund say they have not contributed any money to the novotny campaign. ben patrick johnson is the largest out of state supporter, a losses of actor. he's donated $1,000 and recently held a fund-raiser for novotny. >> it is sally's words that motivate me. if there were some kind of an aggregate gay mafia of millionaires would be part of it but there is no such. >> father god, we look to you for protection. >> reporter: at the fairview

baptist church, one of sally kern's strongest supporters is pastor paul blair saying johnson and the rest of the out of state donors should stay out of oklahoma politics saying they have a plan. if it is a plan, what have they proved? >> proved sfards what? >> reporter: as far as anything? >> even if you're in a conservative state, you are not safe. if you take a strong stand on these moral issues, we can knock you out. if we can knock sally kern out of ok k, we can knock you out. >> reporter: both candidates say they prefer to focus on economic issues. at this point, good luck with that. that's for sure. so far, novotny raised -- in case you're wondering, as of august 9th, kern received two out of state donations totalling $125. voters will decide what's important as they say in

november. election day is november 2nd in oklahoma. >> another fun race to watch. carol costello, thank you. >> sure. coming up, american hiker sarah shourd has been freed from an iranian prison but her two companions are behind bars. the mothers of shane bauer and josh fattal join us. it is 36 minutes after the hour. my joints ache so bad, i wake up in pain every day. i want to know why. i want to know why my hair is falling out. how did this happen? how did this happen? a little pain in my knee. that's how it started. that's how it started, this rash on my face. now it's like my body is attacking me. i want answers. announcer: when you don't have the right answers, it may be time to ask your doctor the right question. could i have lupus?

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welcome back to the most news in the morning. after more than 400 days in iranian custody, american hiker sarah shourd is free, reunited with her family in oman, she was one of three hikers jailed in iran and charged with spying. shourd says she won't rest until the other two are released. >> today is the work that my day begins and all of my efforts starting today will go into helping procure the same freedom for my fiancee shane bauer and for my friend josh fattal because i can't enjoy my freedom without them. >> and joining us now, the mother of shane bauer and laura fattal, mother of josh fattal. welcome and you know, we were just talking, just -- this is a tough moment emotionally. they have all been tough moments but this is great that she is

out and yet you don't have your boys. >> absolutely. you know, i'm very happy sarah's out. she's my daughter-in-law to be but i want shane home, i want shane and josh home connected with their families and the biggest thing for me is what was it like for shane and sarah to separate along with josh. they're very close right now. >> and that what are your hopes right now? what do you know about their condition and how soon they might be able to come home? >> okay. well, we don't have any new information but cindy and i have not talked to nor heard from josh or shane for four months on tuesday. from the time we left teheran may 21st until today we have not had a letter or a phone call from josh or shane. and of course, we're more than eager to. but what we really want, of course, is their release. it is almost 14 months of detention. we're so happy that sarah's home with nora but it's our turn, our

turn to have our kids back with us. >> you know, i know that probably you all are in touch, at least periodically with state department officials. iran has a way of doing things in their signals. what do you take from sarah's release? do you think this makes it more hopeful that your boys will be released without a trial? do you think it makes it more likely that iran may hold a trial in what have you been told? >> we're always hopeful. we haven't been told anything. i try hard not to speculate or look bah that. our task is to do what we do as mom to get the three home and we could speculate all we want and that won't change what's happening. >> the iranians said they plan to try your sons on espionage charges. and i guess what would you say to the iranians, to the world, about what your sons were doing when they were detained? >> iran knows they have three innocent hikers. one of whom they have let free. and we're hoping very, very much

they will let the other two free, josh and shane. and that's what we're urging them to do and of course president ahmadinejad, i know, we're welcoming him to the united states and we would like him again as we asked him this time to bring josh and shane. >> you hold out hope, obviously, that he might -- he could, it is within his power to put those two young men on the plane and bring them to the united states to their home. have you been given any indication that that will happen? has there been any hopeful sign that you see? >> we haven't been given an indication but we really don't get indications when things happen so we just hold out hope and continue to do what we need to did. >> are your sons basically hostages? is that -- i mean, how do you look at their situation? >> you know, we look at in it a very humanitarian way. we know what happened. we know that our sons, you know, and daughters are certainly not

spies. you know? we focus on what it should be. a humanitarian issue. they should be released. >> do you know anything about whether sarah got to see them before she left? do you know anything more recent about their condition, their state of mind since you saw them four months ago? >> it does sound like sarah did get to say good-bye to shane and josh which kept me awake at night which i thought i hope they don't wonder where she went. as far as their condition, we are not sure. i'm very anxious to talk to sarah to give us the details. >> you know, four months -- 14 months almost of detention, the mental and psychological stress of detention in though shane and josh are together, they're isolated from the whole world in a very big way. and that stress and that prolonged and protracted

detention, it doesn't do well any anyone and so we need them out. it is not like a long distance race. we are here to end it. we want it over and we just am hoping as cindy said that the humanitarian compassionate nature of the islamic republic of iran will work in our favor as it has for sarah. >> you know, i know as a mother myself that when your children are in a situation, you know it's dangerous, all of your stresses about their stress. how has this affected you? >> this has taken a huge toll not only on me but my family members physically and emotionally. i mean, i'm strong as shane is so i just take care of myself because i have to be strong. quitting is not an option but it's taken a huge toll on all of us as i'm sure it has on shane and we want to end it soon to get back to physical health.

we have a wedding. sarah and shane have a wedding to plan. we need them free both of them to do that. >> that will be a day. >> josh is the best man so he's got to be there. >> yes, he does. >> yeah. >> cindy and laura, best of luck. we look forward to having you back when your boys are free. >> we'll be hoping for the best. >> thank you very much. >> all the best to you. thanks a lot. >> thank you. >> we'll be right back. our points from chase sapphire preferred are worth 25% more on travel. we're like forget florida, we're going on a safari. so we're on the serengeti, and seth finds a really big bone.

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i'm rob marciano. we have three storms in the atlantic basin right now. two of this ch are category 4 forms. this is julia. igor continues to churn with winds that were almost a category 5 status last night an here's tropical storm karl. as far as the track of igor's continued, tracks towards bermuda. shouldn't hit the u.s. and certainly churn up the wave action across the east coast. here's what's going on with tropical storm karl. this thing is very close to being a hurricane. eye trying to form now. just about to make landfall right around south of cozumel. the peninsula getting wind, rain and likely flooding and the track brings it to probably hurricane status once get it into the gulf of mexico but the ridge to the north should keep it south of texas. potentially as a category 1 or

higher hurricane. the other deal here happening across the lower 48 today, threat for severe weather across the mid section of the country not only today but the great lakes and mid-atlantic tomorrow. the northeast looks lovely for the this wednesday. you're up to date weather wise. "american morning" is coming right back. bold. daring. capable of moving your soul. ♪ and that's even before you drop your foot on the pedal. ♪ the new 2011 cts coupe from cadillac. the new standard of the world. can your moisturizer do that? [ female announcer ] dermatologist recommended aveeno has an oat formula, now proven to build a moisture reserve, so skin can replenish itself. that's healthy skin for life. only from aveeno.

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welcome back to the most news in the morning and it is time for your am house call. stories about your health. a weight loss drug that showed promise may be headed for the trash. there are big concerns about meridia's safety. elizabeth cohen joins us now from atlanta with the details. elizabeth, what is the concern about this drug? >> candy, the concerns about this drug may might be linked to heart attacks and strokes. there was an italian study that came out recently that has some people worried. they compared people on meridia

to people on a placebo. the risk was 11%, with placebo, 10%. it was still a difference. the fda holding hearings to see if it ought to be pulled off the market or have stronger warnings on the labels or anything like that. abbott labs that makes it, they say, hey, in the italian study the patients were having heart problems to begin with so they say that the study results aren't valid because they shouldn't have been taking it to begin with. candy? >> so, elizabeth, 10% and 11% when you're comparing the p placebo and the drug and occurs to me don't you have to weigh the risk of being overweight and the same risk, strokes and heart attacks. >> that's true. you have to put that in the equation. here's the issue. some doctors say, look. it's a small increased risk but when you look at it you are not

getting that much of a weight loss difference when you're on meridia. look at those numbers. those are important. what they found and this is the company's own studies is looking at someone who weighs about 207 pounds, they lost 9 pounds extra going on meridia and concerns are nine pounds worth it when there seems to be an increased risk of heart attack or stroke at least according to the italian study. >> be the tom line is, taking it, do they need to stop taking it? >> they shouldn't just stop it suddenly. this isn't an immediate risk to worry about. if i take one pill will it do something terrible to me? you should talk to your doctor and talk about the risk for heart attack stroke, your own personal family history. have a discussion with your doctor. >> thank you so much. >> thanks. it is 8:55. at least here it is. it's 55 minutes after the hour wherever you are. 40 miles to a dude ranchtake a n

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secretary of state hillary clinton and israeli and palestinian leaders getting down to business tackling key issues of the middle east conflict. clinton in jerusalem where prime minister netanyahu and palestinian president abbas holding rounds of face to face negotiations. the couple infamous for crashing a white house state dinner may be dealing with something far more serious. according to a book salahi suffered with multiple zle ro sis for 17 years. the book is due out today. and you'll be able to add pictures and video to tweets. the new features part of a major overhaul designed to make twitter more user friendly and partnering with more than a dozen media providers including yahoo!'s flicker and youtube for videos and pictures on twitter.com and apparently, candy, dogs can tweet now, as well. referencing a story earlier in this prime minister. >> apparently. >> doggy